Hammershoi and Europe

Vilhelm Hammershoi was a leading Danish painter of his generation. In this illustrated book - winner of the Amelienborg Prize in its Danish version - the author examines the life and work of Hammershoi. He looks at Hammershoi not only as an important Danish painter but also in the context of European art in general at the beginning of the 20th century. His biography of Hammershoi is interwoven with readings of significant or characteristic works from each phase of the painter's career - from the interior paintings to the monumental figure compositions "Artemis" and "Five Portraits", in which Hammershoi introduced pictorial innovations and summed up his vision of the human condition. The book also describes Hammershoi's relationship with many of the leading art critics, writers, patrons and dealers of his day, including Theodore Duret, Rainer Maria Rilke, Sergei Diaghilev, Arthur Clutton-Brock and the English pianist Leonard Borwick. An appendix contains previously unpublished letters from Rilke, Diaghilev and Whistler.